I’m Buzzkill Aldrin this preseason, huh? Just call me Killjoy McAvoy! Don’t hate the player, hate the game, or in this case, watch as I hate players that play the game. First, I call Miguel Sano overrated, and now the other supremely hyped 2nd year guy, Kyle Schwarber. I may as well just say Carlos Correa has gout and call it a day. You know, not a lot of ‘perts would call Sano and Schwarber overrated, so if nothing else I’m getting an A in Balls. Potentially, an F in Smarts. But maybe I’ll get a C in Being Aware of My Lack of Smarts, which gives me a C overall and passes me through to the next grade. I’m not getting placed in any AP classes next year though. I’m hanging out the window with my grade A Balls and letting everyone know that I have a problem where everyone else has none. At first, I was shocked that so many people were on board with Sano and Schwarber, but, once I saw everyone was on board, it was only natural that every everyone was on board. I mean, what is fantasy prognosticating without repeating back to you exactly what everyone else is saying, right? This is one of ESPN’s rare qualities. Everyone says Kyle Schwarber is good? Great, he’s good; now, let’s move on so we can get out of here by lunch. Member that time they did a video of their rankings summit? Ten minutes of Cockcroft rolling his eyes, five minutes of Karabell getting his makeup touched up, fifteen minutes of Berry hitting on Karabell, thinking he was a girl. Good times! I understand the urge to be positive on Schwarber. He hits the ball a long way. He is exciting. But, alas…. Anyway, what makes Kyle Schwarber overrated for 2016 fantasy baseball?

Here’s what I said in the top 20 catchers for 2016 fantasy baseball, “In Triple-A, he had a 34.3% strikeout percentage, then came up to the majors and had a 28.2% rate. Normally, guys don’t hit above .250 with that kind of rate and neutral luck, and he hit .246 last year. His plate discipline isn’t off the charts bad, but his contact rate is awful. He doesn’t hit a ton of pitches he swings at. If he qualified last year, he would’ve been the 4th worst player for contact rate. From June through September/October, here’s his batting averages: .364, .302, .221, .208. Shorthand of what was being said on pitching mounds in June, “We can’t get this guy out.” Shorthand in September, “Just throw him some offspeed crap in the zone.” He could make adjustments this year, but I wouldn’t go near him to find out.” And that’s me quoting me! Further (oh, snap, Grey’s going further!), what do you think Joe Maddon is going to do with Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Matt Szczur, Arismendy Alcantara, and Kris Negron? Just let them all sit on the bench? Negron, please! Most of Schwarber’s replacements last year weren’t good and Maddon still sat Schwarber against lefties. I felt Schwarber was overrated prior to Fowler re-signing with the Cubs, but now there’s no way I’d go anywhere near Schwarber. As I said in my update on the top 60 outfielders, Soler is the odd man out, and could be traded, but A) If Soler is traded, it should help Soler, but Schwarber will still be in a platoon. B) Schwarber will be platooned no matter what. C) There’s no C. D) Read A and B again! Suddenly, a manager that does nothing but platoon everyone is not going to platoon the one player in his lineup that most calls for a platoon? Maddon might play Bryant in the outfield once a week and sit Schwarber. Maddon might sit Schwarber and start Baez or Szczur just because he wants to play a Z for ten points. Schwarber won’t catch more than a handful of games all year, if that many. Unless Antonio Alfonseca is reading this, a handful is five! Anyone that has watched Maddon for an Urban Dictionary minute knows he likes to mix it up more than Kid Capri. Schwarber will be lucky to get 500 ABs. If Schwarber struggles due to Ks and Soler is hitting? Schwarber is quickly going to be the odd man out. Maddon is the headmaster at the School of Hard Knocks, and if you’re not hitting hard knocks, you’re getting schooled. Schwarber could absolutely bomb out…or he could hit bombs out. He does have that huge power; I’m not denying that, but for his current price, I’m not going anywhere near him in drafts.

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Schwarber was only in AAA for 17 games, 67 PA. In 2015 he spent a good chunk of the year in AA (58 Games, 243 PA), and posted a 20.2 K% (albeit with a strong 17.3 BB%) that makes his 28.2% K% in the majors in a similar sample size more reasonable.

Does this make him more palatable to you, or not enough to justify the price?

I know that Austin Jackson has yet to find a home, but we need ONE MORE person to join us for what looks like the inaugural RCL draft of the 2016 season. RCL #19 is drafting this Sunday at 10:30 AM EST, so sign up to help us kick this thing off!

@For an Armenianless vacation come to Akron: So, we were all set for a 10:30 AM EST draft today, but someone just pulled out. That means we have room for one more! Sounds like a lovely way to spend a bit of your Sunday morning, right?

I know you hate taking starters early, but I can’t help but notice how much Kershaw is worth in 12 team 5×5 roto leagues when converting his projections to dollar amounts. I have mocked a few times taking Kershaw at around 4 or 5 and coming back I usually get a choice of Abreu/EE and then Marte/Springer. Based on getting some combo of these players in rounds 2/3, is it worth going over to the dark side and taking a starter in round 1?

Damn Grey, you’re killin’ me! Your first three Schmohawks are some of my best keepers. I’ve got them all at a significant discount though. Each $10 or under Auction League. I do agree re: Fowler. The Sole timeshare with Fatty Schwarber is going to impact him more than people know. IF the Cubs keep Soler around…

I’m thrilled to have Sano, but the only price I paid for him was a 21st round draft pick a couple of years ago, and he’s now a terrific OF3 or UTIL guy on my team and will be for years (I hope). I don’t know if I’d take him with a 4th round pick just for 2016.

Beware, by the way. Soler is one of my backup outfielders, so I’m getting my Schwarber voodoo doll ready for the season.

Geez Grey. You’re putting me between a rock and a soft place. I have both Sano and Schwarber in a keeper league and have been going back and forth on who to keep. I get to keep 3 guys from last season.

So far I have decided to keep Altuve 7th round, Thor last round.

Sano or Schwarber would cost me a 2nd to last round pick.

Odor would be a 21st round pick.
Donaldson would be 9th overall pick. (Not much value)
Hosmer 8th round.

@JeF WiTh 1 F: At that pick though the best he can do is return the actual value of the pick, not much chance of him being better than 8th, but a good chance at being worse. Wouldn’t you go with the higher upside guy later?

@Fredsteroni Pie: no question you go with sano or schwarber. personally I believe in sano more than schwarber, but either one is great value as a second to last rounder…

I agree with grey that they’re overrated right now, and I’d steer clear of them where they’re going in drafts, but just because they’re overrated as top 30-40 picks doesn’t mean their completely without value. give me a first round pick and sano over Donaldson and a penultimate rounder any day.

I have the option of keeping Schwarber for the cost of an 11th round pick. The other option I’m considering is Sano, who would also only cost me an 11th-round pick. Do you feel like that’s good value for either guy? Seems like it is, but I like to ask questions. Also, if you had the choice, would you go Schwarber or Sano in this situation? I’m leaning Schwarbs because I can play him at C.

Speaking of Schmohawks, ESPN’s Eric Karabell (a.k.a. Office Spaces’ Michael Bolton) recently said that Billy Hamilton will lose the CF job to Jose Peraza this year. Keith Law chatted yesterday that he thinks Billy has just enough OBP to keep his playing time, but should be batting 8th or 9th.

Seems like they’re both saying what you were saying last year (he can’t hit), though Billy performed better than his Razz projections. What your thoughts are going into this year regarding a potential loss of playing time to the Reds’ newest burner (Peraza).

I knew you fielded this topic a bit yesterday, but how much shine is off Soler with the playing time reduction? In my H2H (10-team) I can keep him at 14th round value but with 3 of my 5 OF slots already filled, the platoon has me thinking Carrasco in the 7th is a better choice. I may actually be able to get Soler back later in the draft now. Thoughts? Keep up the great work!

Grey,
I’ve been a fan for a long time. I have had great success using your rankings each year at my drafts and have always felt good about waiting on pitching. I’ve mock drafted many many times yet and talked with guys in the league and come back to this problem every time. In the 4th round I’m seeing pitching available that’s great and offensively seeing such a drop off. Each time I’m drafting a combo of rizzo, matte, springer or best player, Abreu, springer. Then I’m seeing Degrom or Jose Fernandez or at best Jason Heyward/shmowhawks. Is it the play when everyone passes on pitching?

@knucks: of course, my real draft isn’t with a bunch of goofballs like these mocks are, so I can see what you are saying Fungazi. but I think what LT is pointing at is about reading the room and not reaching when you don’t have to.

@knucks: polanco’s ADP is 104th and before anybody starts in on “well some sites have him much lower/higher than others” here’s his spots in NFBC, yahoo, espn, RTS (90/90/102/126), so that’s 9th round in a 12 teamer. and even if we go ONLY go with the 90 as safer number that’s 8th, so reaching for him in the 6th is virtually guaranteed to get you him, and could gamble on the 7th or later. heyward much earlier at 69th.

@Grey: might be a slight reach and not everyone’s choice but I’m taking Thor there if available at the end of the 4th. Sometimes g. cole is there too. degrom/jo-fer is usually gone in a lot of the mocks i’ve been in. Grabbing carrasco/salazar alot in the 6th round too.

Still trying to fill an RCL drafting at 7:30 E.T. tomorrow. Everyone that signs up will be entered into a raffle to get a hand job from Tehol. Ok, just kidding. I wouldn’t put anyone through that. But really, come on gents/5 ladies, help me get this filled . I appreciate the help and thanks for all the great articles Grey. Outstanding work.

Maybe it’s because I believe in your take on him so much, Grey, but I’m starting to really feel like Soler’s not getting a fair shake w/the Cubs. Have they really given him a solid shot to show he can start & be effective? It feels like he’s either been injured or platooned early on way too much to prove anything while Schwarber’s just been given it based on rep alone.

@Clint: I agree. Epstein hates hispanics. Soler’s getting cheated. Is Fowler such an improvement ? Already traded for Zobrist and Hayward. Guess their playing for the World Series.
Epstein’s a dick, he’ll keep Soler just in case. Really kills my last draft.

Thank you for getting us though the Winter, Grey! I guess the Soler balloon has lost it’s air…Sad day…sad, sad day…but hey, maybe Schwarber bombs out and we can have Soler off of waivers by mid April! Here’s to dreaming!

I think one of the biggest problems for Schwarbernator is his defense. Because I remember watching him in the playoffs and hoping every Met hit the ball to him when he played OF. He was AWFUL. Like Duda in the outfield awful.

So unless this kid that grew up playing catcher (i assume) all of a sudden learns how to play OF at a professional level he is gonna find a lot of time on the pine.

@The discarded head of ted williams: yep, even if he plays a lot of games, I see him getting subbed in the 7th inning a lot for defense. He’ll have the same number of at bats as most catchers do by the end of the season. Rich man’s Gattis, IMO.

@The discarded head of ted williams: Oh man, that was the worst outfield defense I’ve ever seen. Ever. True, I don’t know how they could run him out there everyday if the plan is for him to be an outfielder.

I’ve got 5 no brainer keepers – Goldy, Altuve, Machado, Arenado, Edwin. I have one additional spot. I can choose from the following guys that you think are overrated this year – Adam Jones, Felix, Schwarber, Sano.

I have other guys that you like to choose from – Pineda, McCullers, Wade Davis, Giles, Watson (although I’d be hard pressed to keep a reliever).

Even with the first group being overrated, would you still keep one of them over players in the second tier that you like? If so, which one?

I am reading your book. Love it. I’m the guy emailed you a couple days ago about it.

in a S+H league this year, already have Familia. would you bother “reaching” for betances/miller/capps in the teen rounds or just wait till the end to pick up any of carson smith, O’day, strop, watson, pomeranz or Knebel?

I have Scwharber and Sano in a keeper league for 18th and 17th rounds, so the price is right and I’d be a fool not to keep these guys.

I know a lot of this is “it depends on what the market is” but considering I’m not paying the outrageous cost of drafting them, is it worth just holding on and letting them get me some power numbers, or do I aggressively shop before the first games are played?

@Grey: yea its pretty good stuff. put out a couple songs a few months back. read into it. the beats and backing stuff is a indie-ish band called “phantogram” and big boi heard their songs on a pop up ad and they started working together. also the album art aint’ too shabby either!

@Grey: not sure if you use spotify but they have an EP out now. other great songs too, “fell in the sun”+ “goldmine junkie”. they are prob on the recs on the side bar in yo-tube as well. you have prob gotten into run the jewels as well. such good stuff. they put an album out of remixes of run the jewels 2 that is called “Meow the Jewels”. Decent.

@Grey: yea if you haven’t done any run the jewels, the remixes aren’t a good place to start. ‘Close your eyes’ is good but ‘oh my darling don’t cry’ is awesome. I gotta turn that one off when my girl comes in the room. usually a solid indication of a great rap song. but if you are already into their stuff, the remixes are solid. love the cat theme hah

@knucks: but if you were talking about finding the big grams stuff, its all on youtube. i like most of it. love the risks that both parties are taking. doesn’t always land, like when the girl is tryinta rap. but i think they created a few gems there, which is way worth it.

@Grey: hah that’s awesome. you into this kinda stuff mostly for the lyrics/rhymes or you get into stuff due to the beats often? just curious. have so many recommends to fire your way throughout the season.

@knucks: got one more for today…. and then i’ll stop blowing up your baseball site about tunes. a bit of a reach that may take you out of your comfort zone a bit. not entirely sure. give it a shot if when you give big grams a break and want to shake your azz off a bit. good for getting some work done or cleaning the house. no rap at all, just good a good beat. i think ted will dig it.

@Grey: drafting in a league with QS for the first time myself. when you say an ace or two here… are we talking about being behind the curve if we end up with a guy like cole/noah/carrasco as an ace. you had pointed me towards the rankings rudy takes care of the other day as far as QS leagues and I’ve used that to shuffle my rankings up a bit. but just curious where you would say the “ace” tier drops off. Is it after degrom? After MadBum? After Salazar? In my 12 teamer that uses mostly standard categories, but QS instead of W’s. I still feel pretty happy with a staff that has noah/carrasco (or K-zar) as my 1/2. Or do I need to target a guy in the 3rd round? Thanks for your help.

Hey Grey, first comment this year but am looking forward to many more articles. 12 tm h2h snake draft, keepers are arrieta, trout, goldy, springer, arenado with maikel and severino in my minors (will pull them up). Who would you be aiming for if you were me in the draft? It looks like some good pitchers will be out there as well as polanco and odor. So basically would you go for polanco, odor or a guy like salazar? Thanks bud and keep up the good work.

You’ve kept baseball going all through the long, warm-and-comfortable-because-this-is-SoCal-where-you-can-wear-shorts-in-January winter. Thanks! We all need something to do while we’re waiting on A.J. Preller to do… something. Preferably something involving Soler or Baez going to the Padres.

Speaking of which!

I’m not happy about Fowler going to the Cubs. Now I have two Cubs who don’t have full-time jobs: Soler and Baez. I have to drop one before the season starts. I’m probably still dropping Baez, but I thought I’d ask if you agree there.

@Grey: Not that it was Preller’s call at that point, but how about that Rizzo/Cashner swap a few years back. Prob one reason they realized they needed a new GM! Not going so well after Preller’s hiring either…

Also, from the guy about to freeze his nuts off walking to where my car is in Bethlehem, PA… where is sweet baby jesus when we need him?

A few million years from now the sun will burn out and lose its gravitational pull. The Earth will turn into a giant snowball and be hurled through space. When that happens, it won’t matter if I got this guy out.

Hey grey. In a 14 tm keeper a guy wants Miggy, Lucroy, and DeShields for Scherzer and Pujols. I need pitching but I don’t know about that much. My staff would be Carrasco Scherzer Matz and Giolito then. My top 5 offense is Harper Trout Donaldson Miggy and Xander so I have some offense to spare.

In a Auction Keeper/Dynasty (we do prospect draft and can keep them for $1 for first year of MLB service time) – you can keep $120 of a $300 budget every year. I am in a dilemma. Do I keep Harper for $40 or with his $40 I can add these 4: DeGrom, Familia, Odorizzi and Yelich.

I definitely think that the Cubs need to add a few more outfielders so that they can play each on off days. Team is perfect for a crazy mgr. like Maddon. Guess they’ll have specialists for everything. Cubs 4-1 to win World Series. I’ll take the Mets and Houston.

In head to head points leagues with fairly standard scoring but no limits on games started, would it make sense to have all your bench players be high-upside starters and then play them all when they start week-in week-out?

Schwarber reminds me of Adam Dunn for some reason. Fast swing, lots of Ks, homers that travel a mile, terrible average but lots of walks. He’s an all or nothing kind of guy and I see 30+ HRs and a .220 average in his future.

@Grey: Thanks a lot Grey, Now the owner has come back , and sent me three offers. darnaud and snell for archer, conforto and snell for archer, or Mazara and Snell for Archer.What one would be best in your opinion. I have Gomes that could replace Travis, Mazara has the potential , but new OFs come along every year.

Seems to me this should heat up the Cubs/Rays trade talks. I would think even after acquiring Dickerson and the smaller log jam the Rays have they should still make a run at Soler. Chance to get an impact bat at a reduced price now I would think should be appealing… Maybe just Cobb or Moore.

@Grey: wow, that would be the biggest
“good lord god why was my draft so damn early F you comish (and myself for agreeing to do it that early) ”
to
“good lord i got y’all SOB’s now since our draft was so F’ing early! HAHAHAHA!”

reversal in history if so. like hoffman + castro or j.gray + castro for soler + c.edwards or something like that.

With Almonte going to Roid prison, does Venable get the strong side of a platoon ?
Also, how much does Suarez move up since he was announced to be the starting 3d baseman, who happens to have s.s. covered as well ?
13 home runs in less than 100 games = 20 over a full season. Not bad for a s.s., right ?

in news:
“Free agent Austin Jackson recently turned down a one-year deal in the neighborhood of $5-6 million from the Angels, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com.
The Angels made their offer but Jackson and his agent, Scott Boras, were seeking more money, prompting the Angels to walk away. It’s good to stick to your guns, but in the process the Angels seem destined to start the season with Daniel Nava and/or Craig Gentry manning left field. As for Jackson, he remains among a group of free agent outfielders (Alex Rios, Will Venable, Shane Victorino) still looking for jobs as camps are opening.”

that MF’ing idiot boras just cost a-jax a job, and more importantly I’M STILL PAYING HIM 6.4 MIL in the my 30 man league with 100 mil budgets. SOB! maybe he goes into TEX though, that would be fine.

@Grey: Haha I bring the heat, all day err day…word is that without me and my brother helping my pops, he is simply not funny. Might be a tough go for him, but his looks should soften the blow a bit. Can’t have it all.

Grey, couple of trade questions for you: 1) would you trade Scherzer for Fernandez (I can also keeper Fernandez as a 10th rounder) 2) would you to Arenado for Corey Seager and the second pick of 2nd round? I can also keeper as a 12th rounder. This is for a points league

Should I sign arrietta to 3 yrs for 20$, or 4 yrs 25$. Hey or keep trout and dint sign arrietta just keep him for the six. I feel like theres no way I can sign trout a cintract would be an extra 9$ and plus five every year after. Its only my third year in this keeper/ auction leage, with two utilities. Its a standard points leage.

@gangreen: what I mean is are those guys grey I mean great for those prices and I should just pay what ever to get trout back. I have no idea how much he can go for and if if its 71$ I could have kept him for 2 yrs for that price. If you say keep trout for one year for 62 $ill doit if you say drop him I will if you say sign him to 3 yrs 76$ iwill doit. Because I can and I dont want these vultures especially the guy who owns mookie for 5$ to get there claws on me trout.

Grey I drafted a team for you. 2 week long couchmanagers slow draft just finished. 12 team RCL set up. no way I’m getting this team in real life but a girl can dream. turner is my insurance for reyes (could’ve gone with aybar, alexei, anderson, but decided on turner for playing time/upside combo)

Grey what do you think of this team I drafted. I thought it was pretty decent but ESPN said I would place 10th. 5 x 5 Roto, Traditional positions (C, 1B, 2B, SS, 2B/SS, 3B, 1B/3B, 5 OF, Util, 9 P, 3 bench, 1 DL)

I would love some trade advice in a standard Yahoo 12-teamer. I give up JD Martinez and Marte for Joey Bats, Braun, Carpenter, and Kemp. Carpenter and Kemp would replace Schoop and Moreland at UTIL for me. (Already have Odor at 2B and Sano at 3B) I’m torn because I love the upside of Marte and am not a fan of Carpenter or Kemp, but I feel like I’m getting too much talent back to reject the trade. Any thoughts?

10 team 5×5 12keepers. My keepers are rizzo,dozier,machado,beltre,fielder,jdong,
Jones,brantley,yelich,pederson,salazar and
Cmart. When I look at the free agents the name that jumps out is polanco. Should I even consider him
since I already have 5 outfielders and fielder at u.
Other options are russell,semien and marte at ss
or liriano or odorizzi. Help!!!

Is rp jefferies from mil a good last round pick. With what you said about jim henderson yrs ago when he became there closer was a brilliant add of mine. But what you wrote about him made me draft him and he stile the job from axelrod I think it was at the time. I get that from jefferies and what you said last year.

That’s how I’m looking right now. I’ve got 2 bench slots filled out hitting wise. I traded away two great pitchers in Arrieta (R20 value) and deGrom (R20 value) with a 16th to land Soler (Round 20 value), Perez (R5 value) and a 6th. I probably over paid (should’ve asked for another pick), but I figured a jump up in round value would pay off while also getting Perez would make it so I didn’t need to find a good back up for Schwarber. Which I think it did when I scored both McCullers and Miller. I also could concentrate on hitting with my first 3 picks, and I think I’ve got a pretty solid team.

If you are wondering why it isn’t complete, the draft is still going on right now as we like holding an offline draft. Currently in Round 7 of 20. I think my biggest plays I can make is to probably go after Eduardo Escobar for a solid backup at nearly all positions, then find a good solid back up at 1B for hitting to cover me in regards to injury. I’m thinking either Trevor Plouffe, Justin Bour, Jon Singleton or Mark Trumbo. Leaning towards Trumbo at the moment, just because of Os park.

As for pitching, just fill them in. There’s usually enough good pitching that I can get away with a reasonable back up, so not as high of priority, though I did want at least some pretty good starters while they are still there. Hence why I just drafted 3 in a row.

ok, got 1.820,997 million left for last week of bidding. only players i would have any interest in are
m.gonzalez (MI/CI/OF) and dietrich (CI/OF),
or one of these RP:
yimi, salas, jeffress, morin, o.perez, howell, cedeno. some of those i likely won’t afford at all (yimi, jeffress likely for sure)
or one of these SP:
shoemaker, colby, roark, garza, ERV sant. it’s even more likely i can’t afford ANY of those.

roster now
C d’arnaud
CI beltre
CI howard
MI segura
MI alcides
OF a-jax
OF rosario
OF altherr
Util leonys
BN smoak, c.perez (starting catcher for minimum deal), k.johnson (CI/MI/OF)
SP liriano, sale, quintana, morrow, hellickson, petit (waiting for roark to fail since he’s worse pitcher than petit or injury)
RP melancon/n.jones/d.hernandez/fien/l.hendriks/rj alvarez
BN urena (MIA)
If i want dietrich or marwin i’d drop k.johnson and get back .714 (i’d be eating the other .714, bidding done in multi week sessions makes for weird decisions), meaning i’d have 2.535ish now to bid with to attempt to get 1 hitter and 1 RP. I know you mentioned dietrich having better power, but since i already have smoak backup CI i thought the extra MI of k.johnson had value (marwin also has this)
1. stick with k.johnson or grab one of marwin/dietrich?
2. if i get a RP i’d have to either drop rj alvarez/urena (both on long deals at minimum, 4 and 3 years) OR drop a prospect for sending alvarez down. alvarez does appear to be going to minors to start year. which prospect is the drop if so? (i’ll ask ralph as well)
30 prospects i have 1 C, 6 CI, 4 MI, 7 OF, 8 SP, 11 RP, and 1 SP/RP (staumont, just drafted by KC)
weakest prospects are:
h.lee MI (ex TB, recently traded i think to SF)
m.ynoa RP WSOX (used to be a big deal SP prospect)
m.cabrera RP ATL
j.sherfy RP ARI (but i know he was really good 2 years back and is likely nice set up man)

@goodfold2: also, since you don’t get money back if somebody gets injured it’s probably best idea to keep .4 or .8 (minimum deal for waiver player is .4) free, so i really only have something in the range of
1.020997 mil (if i keep k.johnson) to use on 1 RP
or
1.734997 to try to get 1 BN hitter and 1 RP if i drop k.johnson

@Grey: got salas for my last 1.42, but it turns out i could’ve had marwin for 1.001 (if you bid over 1 million you have to eat half the contract if you cut), marwin was won for 1 mil, AND salas for the last 1.134 i would’ve had left (cutting k.johnson). but the drop off in RP (to me) if i miss salas is higher than the difference between some dude named marwin and kelly johnson.

garza not even bid on, so when morrow gets DL’d early in year i can waiver him maybe, or williamses perez.

@goodfold2: i did screw up in the sense that since roark only went for 1 million i could’ve paired him with my (overpaid, my fault) petit to ensure WAS’s 5th SP slot. i’ve seen other guys like him go for like 3 mil earlier in bidding. clearly most people went through their budgets earlier.

in a different keeper league i have carpenter/dozier/stanton/pollock/rizzo. guy is willing to trade bogaerts for a non 3B/SS/OF. i also have schwarber prekeepers set time. trade schwarber, and then keep bogaerts over carpenter? extra categories are total bases, K’s and OPS. could also drop dozier if he’s less valuable in a league like this.

@Grey: i sent out the schwarber for SS or schwarber + dozier for better 2B or schwarber + carpenter for better 3B idea. i’ll also contact bogaerts guy alone, but i’m thinking i could have even better deals possibly. schwarber hype is bat shit.

@Grey: he’ll do it if i move him up 7 picks in 11th round (we keep 9, so this is 2nd round). to ensure some sort of parity we keep 5 hitters, 2 OF, 3 from different positions that can’t repeat, and 2 SP (iglesias/keuchel) and 2 RP (kenley and perkins (or capps/boxberger))

@goodfold2: WOAH, i was about to hit the easy accept button till i went on over to Rudy’s newest addition, the “other categories” which is good for me since i have OPS (already in there), but also K’s and total bases. schwarbs is down in the rater for less than 500 PA as well. due to being a catcher it also isn’t taking away much pts for his average or K’s (K’s since his total at bats is low of course). these #’s are for my league specs alone.
schwarber $26.5
bogaerts $28.9
carpenter $ 16.7
dozier $11.7
if long term doesn’t change things a lot i’d get $43.2 keeping schwarber over dozier and doing no trade, and $45.6 doing trade and not keeping dozier, that’s a LOT closer than i thought. I’m thinking long term you like bogaerts as well over schwarber

Hey Grey
In a 20 Team League and I pick UGH 20th. LOL
So Can you take a look at these 2 possible teams primarily based on your Rankings and maybe give an overview?
I am wondering too if I should take a 1B (Abreu) and OF in Round 1 at 20 and 21 or go with 2 OF (JD and Springer and then fill 1B later (like Belt?)
Greatly appreciate your expertise and time Grey!

20 teams is deep. You need best bats you can at the turn. If Abreu is there you have to grab him. After that even projecting a possible team is so difficult since you have no idea who will be there, but I like B better simply for the start.

@The Great Knoche: Thanks I figured there is not much difference other than earlier 1B and 3B pick ups. Usually try to get those spots early but the OF seems great this year so thought I might draft heavier for OF in the early going and then pick up 1B and 3B late.

@The Great Knoche: ugliest part about 20’s is the inability to find mocks too. i’m in a bunch of 20’s so i’m more used to what you’ll actually end up with, but it’s still not easy. esp a H2H league, gotta balance out which and when SP to grab, since unlike Grey’s rankings these won’t just all be out there.

@Joey Jo Jo Jr Shabadoo: one thing, power guys fall off even faster, so make SURE you get some early. cheap steals can be found much later. pretty much have to punt catcher and 2B (or SS, or all three).

@Gerry Randell: oh yeah, just try to get 1 closer and midseason pay attention and grab more than leaguemates, don’t pay for them now. really, if you exit draft without a closer in a 20 team league since you ended up with a great offense it’s not a big deal, esp if you are in fact better than leaguemates at grabbing new closers. if league has holds you’ll want to get good ones of those, and those are MUCH much cheaper, last year i exited about every draft in yahoo with a.miller, and only like at most 15 spots higher than his ADP in yahoo.

dusty so senile that he twice called harper “royce”. yeah, really smart decision to hire that guy. and it’s not as if dusty wasn’t involved in baseball since his CIN job, not that that is necessarily relevant when it comes to the NL MVP.

@The Great Knoche: looks like it’s to play LF and super Util? Guess that bumps Gallo. Hopefully not odor/deshields all that much. I know Hamilton is hurt already anyway too. Will be interested to hear Greys take on Monday. I’m thinking that it makes it even easier for me to wait for Castro/semien/segura/ketel super late if I wanna be a cheap SOB at SS and have missed out on one of the top four five guys early

James Shields is ranked #267 in ESPN and #165 in Grey’s ranking.
Why is he ranked so late inESPN? Anything wrong with him?
Or could he be a good steal in late round for starters when I join ESPN league?

Grey,i got 2nd pick in 12 team roto,i have been taking Goldy if Trout is gone.My 23 pick is OF best available ie Marte,BettsJD,my question is with 26 pick do i take next best player if its another OF or do i go 3b with Frazier?

Quick question. Why are you so down on Yasmani? He had a 282 average, 14 HRs and a 920 ops in the first half of the season before getting hurt last year? He also walks a ton which is great for ops leagues.

Grey vs anyone at yahoo. Thats a joke. Yahoo should let there self be wrong sometimes its like they are too scared of being wrong that they dont actually give any real advice ,good or bad. By following grey since my first leage I have devolped the same mindset and when I check on razzball now I read something from grey and say to myself. I was thinking the same thing and it reassures me. Without the fact grey responds to every question is a huge bonus for anyone. So razzball has actually trained me to become a normal top five contender in every leage ive been in. If grey left tommarrow and stopped writing id be fine , because he taught me everything I know about baseball, and its alot. If your new to fantasy baseball read everything he writes and eventually you will be your own writer. Hes like the father of fantasy baseball. Thanks grey.